Digital Reenactments: Using Green Screen Technology To Recreate the Past

Publisher： National Council for the Social Studies

ISSN： 0037-7724

Source： Social Education, Vol.76, Iss.2, 2012-03, pp. : 92-95

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

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Abstract

In groups of two and three, students from more than 15 public schools in Louisville, Kentucky, are at various stages of completing digital stories that transport them back in time. These students are participating in a week-long summer technology camp hosted by the University of Louisville and sponsored by Jefferson County Public Schools.¹ Some of the campers are finalizing scripts and cue cards they have written based on the research conducted during the previous two days. Others are in costume, practicing its reenactments; while another group, having finished filming, is editing its digital story. All of the students in the room are engaged in a digital reenactment. They selected and researched an event from the past, wrote a script, brought in costumes, and practiced the presentation. But what makes the digital reenactment experience different from a traditional in-class reenactment is the use of a green screen, a flip camera, and digital images to take the students into the reenacted time period.